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Modern medicine has been on a journey of shifting towards proactive, patient-centred care for some time. With the widely recognised P4 approach to medicine (predictive, preventative, personalised and participatory), the healthcare of the future is set to further emphasise the focus on individuals within populations.
Without patient participation, it is impossible to predict, prevent and personalise care. Therefore, to achieve P4 healthcare, organisations need to realise the value of partnering with patients.
The rise in the adoption of technologies by individuals such as fitness and health trackers, and the ease of being able to research medical information via ‘Dr Google’, means patients have many of the tools to become more engaged in their health and want to play an active role.
This enthusiasm from patients unlocks a world of opportunities for clinicians, and by forming an effective clinician-patient partnership and listening to patients, you are taking the first step towards the future. As with any genuine partnership this approach needs to help the clinician to be able to perform their job more efficiently and effectively.
Why is taking the time to listen so important?
Enabling patients to play an active role in their healthcare gives clinicians the ability to personalise their care plan in ways that really make a difference.
Each patient has their own distinct history, background, needs and desires. By listening to a patient’s personal story and understanding their uniquely desired outcomes, clinicians obtain a holistic view, a better understanding of contributing factors and make better decisions for their patients.
Personalised care plans enable patients to have more control over their options and choices and will result in better healthcare outcomes.
Empowering patients to participate in as many aspects of their care as possible, from data capture to goal setting and decision making, will help them to stay engaged throughout their care journey.
Challenges for clinicians
Whilst the concept of listening to patients may seem obvious and simple, clinicians are becoming increasingly inundated with higher volumes of excess data and requests than ever before. There is also an unspoken expectation that clinicians will decipher and respond to this data in addition to coping with their existing responsibilities.
This issue gives clinicians little time to take advantage of the valuable contribution a patient can make towards their care and begs the question of how they will cope with the additional data that listening to patients will create. This is often termed excessive cognitive load on clinicians.
To help alleviate this cognitive overload on clinicians, there is an urgent need to present and organise patient data more effectively in clinical systems. If clinical systems could well support clinicians in the task of efficiently processing, prioritising and understanding the large amounts of data now being generated, they will have more time to focus on listening to patients and be able to provide better, more personalised care.
How can Orion Health help clinicians focus on what matters?
Orion Health Unified Healthcare Platform is the healthcare platform designed to actively participate in an open ecosystem centred around the patient.
With the ability to ingest traditional and emerging data types, like patient feedback or smart device data, the Amadeus platform collects data to provide a comprehensive view of the patient. Amadeus presents all of this data to the clinician in ways that support clinical workflows and reduces cognitive load.
With technology such as Orion Heath Unified Healthcare Platform, clinicians are enabled to work in partnership with patients and deliver P4 level care.
Interested in learning more about the Unified Healthcare Platform?
This blog is the second in the series on partnering with patients. The next in the series will look in more detail at how clinicians can benefit from engaging the patient.
